Category: Policy Briefs

The October 2024 parliamentary elections left Georgians grappling with questions, concerns and deep emotions for what lies ahead amid existential risks to our democracy and sovereignty—including the security threat from Russia, a derailed EU integration process, and the rise of authoritarianism. Based on emerging evidence, there is a little doubt that Georgia’s October 26 elections…

Policy Briefing by Andro Atoev Over two years have passed since the 2020 parliamentary elections in Georgia. The election was the usual Georgian affair: rallies, boycotts, a refusal to accept the results, EU mediation, and plenty of additional political wrangling. As a result, the 10th Parliament of Georgia is semifunctioning, or at least, not reaching…

By Maryna Vorotnyuk Amidst the war in its eastern regions with Russia-backed militants, Ukraine is struggling to maintain the functionality of the state. The ongoing reform of its diplomatic service is intended to make its foreign policy more efficient and fit for the purpose of keeping Ukraine on the international agenda and securing the cohesion…

By Cüneyt Gürer Turkey’s foreign and regional security policies have been deeply affected by the Syrian crisis for at least the past seven years. Different dimensions of the crisis and the spillover effects in Turkey (refugees, terrorist attacks, foreign terrorist fighters, etc.) have raised questions and concerns about the country’s approach to regional security. For…

By Giorgi Khelashvili In Spring 2017, the Center for Social Sciences launched the Eurasia Democratic Security Network project funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). EDSN established a platform for discussing and addressing issues related to the Euro-Atlantic integration and conditionality. In July 2017, CSS organized kick-off workshop involving the first EDSN cohort. The aim…

By Levan Kakhishvili The 2015 Caucasus Barometer Survey demonstrates that for more than half of Georgians, democracy is not necessarily the most preferable form of government. In fact, only some 47 percent of the population thinks that democracy is better than other types of government. While such numbers are concerning, they are not necessarily atypical…

By Licinia Simão Democracy promotion in the countries of the former Soviet Union is now a well-established policy in many Western institutions. For more than two decades, the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and even the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have developed specific…

By Lincoln Mitchell More than a quarter of century after once again achieving independence, fourteen years after the Rose Revolution, and five years after the democratic breakthrough that defeated the United National Movement (UNM), the state of democracy in Georgia is still mixed. The recent local elections were generally reviewed with the same mixture of…